1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season

The 1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1955, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1956 NCAA Basketball Tournament Championship Game on March 24, 1956, at McGaw Hall in Evanston, Illinois. The San Francisco Dons won their second NCAA national championship with an 83–71 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Season headlines

  • The Ivy League, which had been formally established as an athletic conference in 1954, played its first basketball season under that name. Previously, Ivy League schools had competed in the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League; today's Ivy League considers the EIBL as part of its history.
  • The Philadelphia Big 5, an informal association of colleges and universities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, focused on college basketball, began play. The Big 5 teams played a regular-season round robin schedule with one another each year through the 1990–91 season with the results determining an informal Big 5 championship, and revived the round-robin schedule during the 1998–99 season.
  • The NCAA Tournament expanded from 24 to 25 teams.
  • For the first time, the four regional competitions of the NCAA Tournament receive names. In 1956, they are named the East, Midwest, West, and Far West Regions.
  • For the last time, the NCAA held only a single championship tournament. The following season, it divided teams into a University Division and a College Division and began holding a separate tournament for each division.
  • San Francisco won its second consecutive NCAA championship.

Major rule changes

Beginning in 1955–56, the following rules changes were implemented:

  • The free-throw lane was increased from 6 feet (1.8 m) to 12 feet (3.7 m).
  • The two-shot penalty in the last three minutes of the game was eliminated. The "one-and-one" free throw, in which a player shoots a second free throw only if he makes his first, went into effect for the entire game.

Season outlook

Pre-season polls

The top 20 from the AP Poll during the pre-season.

Associated Press
Ranking Team
1 San Francisco
2 Kentucky
3 Utah
4 NC State
5 Iowa
6 Dayton
7 Illinois
UCLA
9 Duquesne
10 George Washington
11 Holy Cross
12 Marquette
13 Fordham
14 Washington
15 Alabama
16 Indiana
Saint Louis
18 Oregon State
SMU
20 Kansas

Conference membership changes

School Former Conference New Conference
Bradley Braves Independent Missouri Valley Conference
Brown Bears Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Ivy League
Columbia Lions Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Ivy League
Cornell Big Red Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Ivy League
Dartmouth Big Green Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Ivy League
Fresno Bulldogs Non-major independent California Basketball Association
Harvard Crimson Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Ivy League
Loyola (Calif.) Lions Independent California Basketball Association
Penn Quakers Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Ivy League
Pepperdine Waves Non-major independent California Basketball Association
Princeton Tigers Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Ivy League
Western Reserve Red Cats Mid-American Conference Presidents' Athletic Conference
Yale Bulldogs Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League Ivy League

Regular season

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference Regular
Season Winner
Conference
Player of the Year
Conference
Tournament
Tournament
Venue (City)
Tournament
Winner
Atlantic Coast Conference North Carolina & NC State Ronnie Shavlik, NC State 1956 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament Reynolds Coliseum
(Raleigh, North Carolina)
NC State
Big Seven Conference Kansas State None Selected No Tournament
Big Ten Conference Iowa None Selected No Tournament
Border Conference Texas Tech None Selected No Tournament
Ivy League Dartmouth None Selected No Tournament
Metropolitan New York Conference St. Francis (NY) None Selected No Tournament
Mid-American Conference Marshall None Selected No Tournament
Missouri Valley Conference Houston None Selected No Tournament
Ohio Valley Conference Morehead State, Tennessee Tech & Western Kentucky State None Selected No Tournament
Pacific Coast Conference Oregon State None Selected No Tournament
Skyline Conference Utah None Selected No Tournament
Southeastern Conference Alabama None Selected No Tournament
Southern Conference George Washington & West Virginia Darrell Floyd, Furman 1956 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Richmond Arena
(Richmond, Virginia)
West Virginia
Southwest Conference SMU None Selected No Tournament
West Coast Athletic Conference San Francisco Bill Russell, San Francisco No Tournament
Western New York Little Three Conference Canisius No Tournament
Yankee Conference Connecticut No Tournament

Informal championships

Conference Regular
Season Winner
Conference
Tournament
Tournament
Venue (City)
Tournament
Winner
Philadelphia Big 5 St. Joseph's No Tournament

Statistical leaders

Field goal percentage
Free throw percentage
Player School PPG Player School REB% Player School FG% Player School FT%
Darrell Floyd Furman 33.8 Joe Holup G. Washington .256 Joe Holup G. Washington 64.7 Bill Von Weyhe Rhode Island 86.5
Robin Freeman Ohio State 32.9 Charlie Tyra Louisville .235 Hal Greer Marshall 60.1 Jackie Murdock Wake Forest 85.7
Dan Swartz Morehead St. 28.6 Jerry Harper Alabama .232 Odell Johnson St. Mary's (CA) 56.3 Vic Molodet NC State 85.2
Tom Heinsohn Holy Cross 27.4 Bill Russell San Francisco .231 Raymond Downs Texas 54.0 Dick Miani Miami (FL) 83.7
Julius McCoy Michigan St. 27.3 Charlie Slack Marshall .215 Angelo Lombardo Manhattan 53.4 Bob McCarty Virginia 83.2

Post-Season Tournaments

NCAA Tournament

Coach Phil Woolpert and his star Bill Russell successfully guided San Francisco to its second consecutive championship, capping an undefeated season. The Dons became the first team in college basketball history to go undefeated and win the NCAA tournament. Temple's Hal Lear was named tournament Most Outstanding Player.

Final Four

Played at McGaw Hall in Evanston, Illinois

National Semifinals National Championship Game
      
E Temple 76
ME Iowa 83
ME Iowa 71
W San Francisco 83
MW SMU 68
W San Francisco 86
  • Third Place – Temple 90, SMU 81

National Invitation Tournament

Louisville won its first NIT title, defeating Dayton 83–80. Louisville's Charlie Tyra won MVP honors

NIT Semifinals and Final

Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City

Semifinals Final
      
Louisville 89
St. Joseph's 79
Louisville 90
Dayton 83
St. Francis (NY) 58
Dayton 89
  • Third Place – St. Joseph's 93, St. Francis (NY) 82

Award winners

Consensus All-American teams

Consensus First Team
Player Position Class Team
Robin Freeman G Senior Ohio State
Sihugo Green G Senior Duquesne
Tom Heinsohn F Senior Holy Cross
Bill Russell C Senior San Francisco
Ronnie Shavlik F/C Senior North Carolina State


Consensus Second Team
Player Position Class Team
Bob Burrow F Senior Kentucky
Darrell Floyd G Senior Furman
Rod Hundley G/F Junior West Virginia
K.C. Jones G Senior San Francisco
Willie Naulls F Senior UCLA
Bill Uhl C Senior Dayton

Major player of the year awards

Major coach of the year awards

Other major awards

Coaching changes

A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended.

Team Former
Coach
Interim
Coach
New
Coach
Reason
Georgetown Buddy Jeannette Tom Nolan After four seasons, Jeannette resigned.
Kansas Phog Allen Dick Harp Allen retired following the season and was replaced by assistant Harp.
Yale Howard Hobson Joe Vancisin

This page was last updated at 2022-06-07 21:15 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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